The graduate student experience at McGill

Nostalgia

Wherever I am in fall, it always makes me nostalgic – either nostalgic in advance of the time when I will actually need to be nostalgic, or the real nostalgia. Today, it was nostalgia in advance.

It surprises me how fast Montreal has become a home. I live in the Mile End neighborhood, which happens to be a 15-minute bike ride from McGill, and a 10-minute bike ride from the Jean Talon market. There is something special about an automne bike ride to the market, coming back loaded down with massive squash, colorful carrots, the last figs of the season, the first local apples of the season. It is something that I will miss.

In the performance lifestyle, it is difficult to know where one will be living a year from any given moment. Although I love Montreal, I very well may need to follow connections and opportunity elsewhere, whether that be elsewhere in this country or continent, or overseas. I am torn – for the first time in my life, I actually don’t want to move. I would love to just remain here in my little big apartment with the amazing view, and continue to become a Québecoise.

However, my own path is exciting too, and I cannot wait to audition overseas this year. I feel ready.